Oh The Places I’ll Go… Travel Log

Title: Oh The Places I’ll Go… Travel Log

Project Statement: For this projct I had the opportunity to redo a project. I chose to redo my mapping project because it was one of my favorite projects and it had the most room to grow. The concept was to create a travel log of all the trips presented on my map, so that it makes more sense to the audience.

Research Process: My research for this project was using my own memory and looking back on vacations throughout my life. It was very reflective for me. The biggest obstacle was remembering dates and years of my vacation.

Production Process: I first wanted to make a template that looked old fashion and almost tea stained. So I chose my background color and font accordingly. If I would do it differently I would have added Alaska and Hawaii to my map because some of my most memorable travels were in those states. The juxtaposition of the map and the travel log makes me most excited because it is some of my happiest memories.

Project Statement- Social Media

Title: A Day of Inspiration

Project Statement: For my project I decided to post inspiration and happy quotes on Yik Yak for 24 hours to see what kind of response it would receive. The purpose of this project was to use Yik Yik, which is a highly negative application, for good use and hopefully I impacted someone along the way. The content was the individual posts made, and the context was the purpose of them.

Research Process: The research process for this project was basically thinking about what inspires me on stressful days. I also looked up inspirational quotes and posted many of those over the 24 hour period. In order to measure the effectiveness of the posts, I payed clear attention to the likes on other posts throughout the day for a comparison.

Production Process: My planning process changed through out the course of the assignment, but when I settles, I produced my project by posting a series of inspirational quotes on Yik Yak. The obstacles I faced were people not having the appreciation for the posts that I wanted. If i could do it differently I would maybe post inspiration on all my personal social medias for 24 hours to see how my friends and followers react opposed to anonymous individuals on Yik Yak.

Social Media Proposal

My Idea for this project is to create a more personal way of becoming “friends” with someone. I want to create a miniature scavenger hunt on campus, whoever takes the time to look at the first clue will be the person to participate, if they choose. After a few clues, the participant will receive my Facebook name, send me a friend request, and complete the challenge.

My other idea is to have a piece of paper somewhere around campus with a blurb about my goal. There will be a hashtag that people can post pictures with on twitter. The goal will be to see how many people actually participate.

What Are My Facebook Friends Doing?

The project, What Are My Facebook Friends Doing, performed by Lee Walton was one that was very relatable and comical. This project made me think about all the times I saw a ridiculous Facebook status. The project became not only about Walton, but also about his subject. It made them examine the content of the statuses, which they are posting. I think the fact that Walton used a straight face in his videos made it even funnier to the audiences. Walton focused a lot on timing of the videos, which was very smart because timing is at the best of all great humor. Not only was this project highly comical, it also presented many important questions about Facebook and the way we use it. This project created a much needed awareness for this online community. Until this project many people were unaware that that people actually pay attention to what you post on social media. Walton created an entertaining social media project that offered many laughs, and created a new way of thinking about Facebook.

Mapping Project statement

1. Oh The Places I’ll Go…

2. The concept of my mapping project was to create a very personal literal map of my travels. It content of it is a “water color” map, and the context is in the key which is represented on the bottom in four different colors.

3. The research for this project was all in my memories. It was completely based on my past travels and hopeful future travels. Before I began I had many ideas about how I would represent my travels. It was not until I began crafting my map that it became what is seen in the final product.

4. My project required me to use the tracing pad to get an outline of the united states on illustrator. I then filled in the map with the watercolor tool. My plan was to erase outside on the map to get clean edges, and that was where I faced my biggest obstacle. I had to get very creative with various tools to clean up the edges of the map. If I did it differntly I would drop the title, or come up with a better suited one. I am most excited about the fact that it is so personal to me. Traveling the US is something that I think about a lot, so having a visual of it is very cool to me.

Data Collection

States Visited:

  • Alaska
  • Arizona,
  • California,
  • Colorado,
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Maryland
  • Michigan
  • Montana
  • Nevada
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • Washington DC
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

Method of Travel

  • Car
  • Plane
  • Cruise

Reason for travel

  • Lived there
  • Road Trip
  • Vacation
  • Visiting family

Photoshop Project

TITLE: A Whale of a Night

PROJECT STATEMENT: My project conveys a very realistic montage of photos. There were three categories of photos in my project, sky, water, and whales. The content of my images were simple, nothing had any abstract meanings (whales=whales, sky=sky).

RESEARCH PROCESS: I used Google images to find my images best suited for my project. However when I forget started looking for images my project had a completely different focus from what the final product was. My biggest obstacle was the initial work on Photoshop because I had to teach myself as I went, eventually I found what worked best for my vision.

PRODUCTION PROCESS: At first I only had the whales, and I did not quite know where my project was going. When I realized that I could make them all face the same way I got the inspiration for the sunset, and all the whales swimming that direction. The main three tools I used were the lasso, eraser, and warp. My biggest obstacle was aligning the four images of water, and the two images of sky. I wanted it to be as fluid as possible. If I was to do my project differently I would take advantage of more tools. The aspect of my project that excites me the most is my final product. When I first started, I had very low confidence in my Photoshop ability and I thought it was going to be a disaster, but now that its over I am very proud of my work. My inspiration for the project was love for my favorite animal, and an Alaskan cruise that I went on over the summer. While on the cruise I saw so many beautiful mountains and sunsets, but I never saw what I wanted to see more then anything; killer whales. Thus, I created my vision.

 

Whales

Mapping Reading Reaction

Maps Work by serving Interests was a reading that helped me to better understand the mapping project. Maps are a reality beyond our reach. They are seen in so many forms, and are often about unattainable object of our imagination. Maps make up the past and future. This is an idea that I had never thought about however I find it so interesting. Over the year, so many maps will be created for the same geographic area, however it is constantly changing as we progress into the future. Maps enable our living, which is also an idea that I have not thought about much. There are so many forms of maps, and many of them help our daily lives. The example in the book is maps that point out school districts and crime rates. Every map has an author a subject and a theme. This section was very helpful when thinking about my mapping project. I created a map that was very personal to me, and that is ok because I am the author, therefor I can create my subject and theme accordingly. This reading offered insights about many aspects of maps which I has never thought about